Dear Lifehacker,
I keep seeing the word "mindfulness" everywhere, tied to everything from losing
weight to being more productive. But what does this vague word actually mean, and
how can I apply mindfulness to my life?

Signed,
Maybe Mindful

Dear MM,
Mindfulness is a hot topic these days, just like meditation. As you've noticed,
it's getting more attention in the news as more studies come out showing the
benefits of mindfulness. While it might sound like a New Age-y term (or maybe
even psychobabble to some), there's real evidence that being more mindful can
enhance just about every aspect of your life—and it doesn't take hours sitting
in lotus position to get there. Here's what you need to know.

What Mindfulness Is

Mindfulness has many synonyms. You could call it awareness,
attention, focus, presence, or vigilance. The opposite, then, is not just
mindlessness, but also distractedness, inattention, and lack of engagement.

Mindfulness is both a practice and a state of mind (for lack
of a better word). For example, when you practice mindfulness
meditation, you're sharpening your focus (usually by paying more attention
to your breath) and training your brain to be more mindful long after you're
done meditating. When you're exhibiting mindfulness, you're fully engrossed in
whatever's going on around you. (There are other mindfulness exercises beyond
meditating, as you'll see below, and there are many other
types of meditation as well, so while the two are closely related, they're
not the same.)

Ever since my dad tried to convince me to meditate when I was about 12, I’ve been fairly skeptical…
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You can think of mindfulness as simply being fully in the moment (Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn defines it in the video above as "paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally—as if your life depended on it). That might be the simple definition, but being
engaged 100% doesn't come easy, especially in our world of distractions. It means
actively
listening and not zoning out (even a little) when your co-worker tells the
same story for the third time, and it means using all your senses in even
mundane situations like washing the dishes or walking to the bus stop.

Dear Lifehacker, I'm a terrible listener. I want to do better, but I have trouble paying…
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Mindfulness has roots in Buddhist philosophy and religion,
and is considered very important for the path to enlightenment. Wikipedia says (emphasis mine):

Enlightenment (bodhi)
is a state of being in which greed, hatred and delusion (Pali:moha)
have been overcome, abandoned and are absent from the mind. Mindfulness, which, among other things, is
an attentive awarenessof the reality of things (especially of the
present moment) is an antidote to delusion and is considered as such a 'power' (Pali:bala).
This faculty becomes a power in particular when it is coupled with clear comprehension of whatever is taking place.

But it also takes on new, secular definition when viewed
from a Western
psychology lens. Dr. Ellen Langer, a Harvard psychology professor,
literally wrote the
book on a slightly different concept of mindfulness. She defines
mindfulness as including these important attributes:

Continual
creation of new categories: Instead of relying rigidly on old categories
and labels, mindfulness is paying attention to the situation and context and
seeing new distinctions. For example, instead of seeing a brick as simply a
building object, you could also consider it a bookend, a weapon, a doorstop,
and much more.

Welcoming
new information and seeing more than one point of view: Like category
making, mindfulness also implies continually receiving new information and
being open to new cues (social and otherwise). You and your partner, for
example, might seem to be set in your ways and fight about the same old things,
but being open to the other person's point of view would change that dynamic.

Putting
process over outcome: Focusing on each step rather than getting anxious
about results. Instead of worrying about acing a test, for example, concentrate
on truly learning the subject.

In short, mindfulness is about tuning in and being more
aware of every experience. This part of William
Blake's poem "Auguries
of Innocence" best describes, to me, this kind of attentiveness:

To see a
world in a grain of sandAnd a heaven in a wild flowerHold infinity in the palm of your handAnd eternity in an hour.

The Benefits of Mindfulness

So what's the point, you ask? As the definitions above hint,
increased mindfulness could help you become more focused, more creative,
happier, healthier, more relaxed, and in control. It can also help you more fully appreciate each precious current moment (which is all we have, really). Here are some of the most
recent studies related to mindfulness. Mindfulness training may:

Improve
memory and academic performance (PsyBlog). In this study, students who
did attention-building exercises had increased focus (or less mind-wandering), better
short-term memory, and better performance on exams like the GRE, which as
supposed to be uncoachable.

Help with
weight loss and eating healthier foods. Mindful
eating means paying attention to each bite and eating slowly while paying
attention to all your senses (Harvard
Medical School, Womens
Health). Participants in mindfulness studies ate fewer calories when they
were hungrier than the control groups.

Lead to better
decision-making. A couple of experiments associate mindfulness meditation
or just a natural tendency to be more mindfully aware with being less prone to
the sunk-cost bias, our tendency to stick with lost causes—such as a bad relationship
or deadend job—because of the time and energy already invested (BPS
Research).

Lower stress and help cope with chronic health issues. A meta-analysis of 20
empirical reports found mindfulness increased both mental and physical
well-being in patients with chronic pain, cancer, heart disease, and more (Elsevier).

And offer all
the other brain
benefits we've seen from mindfulness meditation. Better focus, more
creativity, less anxiety and depression, and more compassion to name a few.

How You Can Practice Mindfulness

Unfortunately, mindfulness isn't a switch you can just flip
and then all of the sudden you're Mr./Miss Mindful for the rest of your life.
But it's something you can cultivate.

Curbing distractions and just saying no to multitasking can help you focus more, but distraction-busting tools might also just be
crutches. Mindfulness requires you to be more aware even in the busiest and most stressful situations (and that's when it comes in most useful too).

Many of us think of meditation as sitting cross-legged and silent for a long period of time. But…
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One final note: While practicing mindfulness is very beneficial,
there are times when it's better to let your mind wander. The New York Times reports that creativity and insight may depend on letting your mind wander and daydream, and one study suggests higher mindfulness might be connected with weaker "implicit learning" (unconsciously kicking up new skills or habits):

After meditation upon such sacrilegious findings, no doubt the Buddha, who taught a middle way between worldly and spiritual concerns, would have agreed that there is a time for using mindfulness to discover inner truths, a time for using it to survive a battle or an exam and a time to let go of mindfulness so that the mind may wander the universe.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to find those balanced times between turning on the awareness and taking a mental break.